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Subject:Re: Guilds and Certification From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 16 Apr 1996 20:58:46 -0800
On Tue, 16 Apr 1996 10:54:27 -0500, Julie Zagorski wrote:
>Unfortunately, there are too many people in the world who have worked very
>hard to obtain the skills they possess, only to have others with the "Grand
>Scroll" come and snatch a position from under them. I like you Matt, am
>one of these people. Yes, it is frustrating.
What's really insulting is that I/we/etc. could likely GET that magical
piece of paper by merely writing the proper exams/tests... which of
course, often requires a complete course, at some outrageous cost. And
that doesn't even mean that what's covered in the course or the exams
even has any relevance in the real world.
>I think that eventually though, if we want to continue to be recognized for
>the craftsmen (people) we really are, we will have to display certification
>of some kind.
At least until such certification becomes recognized as meaningless
because of its "abuse". Case in point: almost anyone these days with a
small knowledge of computers and a photographic memory can learn all
the right facts to regurgitate on a test to become a Certified Netware
Engineer. That little diploma may help get them a job, but they'll be
stumped if they actually run into a network that falls beyond the
paramters of the textbook-perfect ones they learned with. It's at the
point now where tagging "CNE" in your .sig means little more than three
more bytes of bandwidth munched up.
And it makes life a lot more frustrating for people like a friend of
mine who CAN walk up to almost any mess of a Netware network and suss
the whole thing out in a matter of minutes. He's in his early 20s and
looks even younger, and that diploma is the one proof of his skills he
had... except that the whole meaning of it has been so undermined that
it doesn't get him any slack anymore.
>I for one am investigating the on-line educational aspect. I don't think
>certification in general is the answer, but to continue in the business
>world competitively I will need to display the degree. I wish that
>employers would recognize the many hours we have spent educating ourselves
>in the positions we have held, and seminars attended. Unfortunately unless
>a brick wall hits "them" (corporate america), I don't see that happening.
Agreed... <sigh>
Your friend and mine,
Matt
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